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Post by ROCKY on Nov 27, 2016 0:23:12 GMT
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Post by ROCKY on Nov 27, 2016 0:33:03 GMT
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Post by pothos on Nov 27, 2016 11:47:20 GMT
Call me daft but what are they?.
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Post by ROCKY on Nov 27, 2016 13:34:48 GMT
Call me daft but what are they?. You are daft. But probably before you were around on this planet. In the top pic is the White LP 8 tracks. Next a reel to reel of the White LP and lastly Playtapes of The Beatles these came out before 8 tracks probably around 1968.
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Post by Amadeus on Nov 27, 2016 14:39:25 GMT
Damn! Was it on only TWO 8 tracks? Those would be fairly long tapes. I know the red and blue albums were 4 cartridges a piece.
For some reason in those days when they were still readily available, tapes of any sort (especially 8 track ) were viewed somewhat contemptuously and lots got thrown out after they stretched or broke.
I viewed them the same way as my purpose in collecting was mainly to listen to and use them.
When people started throwing out their 8 tracks and replacing them with the newly popular cassettes.....
Now I wish I just grabbed up everything I saw that said Beatles on it and put them in a box out of the way for the future.
Dang.
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Post by ROCKY on Nov 27, 2016 15:39:44 GMT
Yeah 8 tracks were mostly bought for use in your car. I remember seeing alot lying along side the road because they broke and were thrown out while driving. The biggest argument against them was you'd be listening to a song and click....5 seconds.... it would take for it to go to the next program and then the song would continue.
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Nov 27, 2016 17:59:27 GMT
Pothos, 8-track cartridges had a piece of tape that was an endless loop. While it had 8 tracks, it played 2 tracks at a time, left channel and right channel, stereo. There were 4 programs on each cartridges, hence 8 tracks. The ends of the tape were connected to each other by a piece of metal material which cued the machine to change programs, sometimes in the middle of a song. And sometimes the song order differed from that of the LP and cassette. As Amadeus alluded to, the medium was generally not held in high regard. Upon request, I shall explain LPs and Cassettes.
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Post by pothos on Nov 27, 2016 22:51:46 GMT
As I am 50 next month I actually recall 8 tracks but had never seen them or the machine they played on. Everyone I knew had vinyl with the occasional cassette. I do not even recall seeing them in record shops. They must be worth a fortune now. I am not the most tech savvy person and still love music on vinyl and cd. Even walkmans did not appeal to me. Were 8 tracks dear compared to other formats?.
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Post by Amadeus on Nov 27, 2016 23:37:54 GMT
Here's a great summary of my growing in the 70s. It's all true! Also I think 8 tracks were usually 2 or 3 dollars cheaper. You also have to imagine the scene. North America. BIG cars. Wide open spaces. Travelling for days and days and STILL not reach the other side of the country. As the AM radio stations would fade out you had the 8 track to fill the spaces. www.classic70s.com/8-track-players.html
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Post by ROCKY on Nov 28, 2016 2:01:06 GMT
And even slightly before 8 tracks you had the Muntz 4 track tapes, which are even rarer! These reminded me of the similar marketing of Beta tapes and then you had the successful VHS tapes at the same time take over. www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-2-BEATLES-DOORS-4-Track-Tapes-Sgt-Peppers-The-Doors-Untested-RARE-/232143906578?hash=item360cdae712:g:eNMAAOSwB09YHQzHAnother big event for the demise of 8 tracks were "those evil" bootlegs. For now people could go out and buy 8 track recorders and tape their own music which the "BIGGIES"(Blue Meanies) hated! I still have a few Dylan bootlegs on 8 track which I found at a flea market(boot sale)cheap. I still remember undercover cops combing the flea market to confiscate these! Now nobody gives a sh*t, we're more worried about Hijackers, terrorists and illegal guns!
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Post by dennis1960 on Nov 28, 2016 18:07:16 GMT
This was the same Radio Shack 8 track recorder which I got in '76 and retired in the early 80's
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Post by ROCKY on Nov 28, 2016 20:34:57 GMT
That's a nice high end one Dennis! I still have my ICP (generic) with 8 track player/recorder, phonograph 78-45-33, and AM/FM radio all in one unit and it all still works!!! I still use it to play my 78's!! And get this, I found it about 25 years ago at a Goodwill Store for ten bucks!!
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Post by pothos on Nov 28, 2016 23:02:29 GMT
While you were all listening to your music on the latest whizz bangs I was playing my beloved vinyl on this machine. I wish I still owned it as it played like a dream.
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Post by dennis1960 on Nov 28, 2016 23:19:58 GMT
That's a nice high end one Dennis! I still have my ICP (generic) with 8 track player/recorder, phonograph 78-45-33, and AM/FM radio all in one unit and it all still works!!! I still use it to play my 78's!! And get this, I found it about 25 years ago at a Goodwill Store for ten bucks!! Thanks! Back in the mid/late 70's Radio Shack had some great stuff. They'd be designed/manufactured by a big name and Radio Shack would buy a license, slap their own "Realistic" name on it and sell it at a huge discount. Their record players were really BSR's and I still use my 1978 Radio Shack microphone (which was really a Shure SM-58). Shoot, even Moog partnered with them in 1982/83 to sell the "Realistic Concertmate MG-1" synth which was basically a Moog Rogue with the Radio Shack name on it. According to wiki, it remains the highest selling Moog Synth of all time...how crazy is that!
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Post by ROCKY on Nov 29, 2016 0:33:03 GMT
Yeah Radio Shack had some great stuff back in the day. Remember Olson's Electronics?
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Post by dennis1960 on Nov 29, 2016 1:07:28 GMT
Don't remember Olson's, were they in the silicon valley/San Jose area? I do remember Quement Electronics and then later the massive Fry's Electronics took over the whole market. They both had tons more components and misc parts than Radio Shack (and at much better prices) but never partnered with the big boys on record players/mics/speakers/cool stuff like Radio Shack did. Radio Shack closed my local store a couple years ago so now I buy components by the bulk on ebay. The prices are way better but I really miss being able to walk into a store and see the stuff first hand :-(
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henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
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Post by henryj on Dec 1, 2016 20:47:29 GMT
Dennis, by any chance did you used to work for RadioShack? You appear to remember a lot about the stuff they used to sell.
There was a contraption they sold well into the '90s that looked like an 8-track cartridge on one end and had a cassette player on the other end. You shoved the first end into your 8-track player and could play a cassette through it.
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Glass Onion
I'll Be On My Way
Arriving somewhere, but not here
Posts: 378
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Post by Glass Onion on Dec 1, 2016 21:54:12 GMT
Where is this thread going? I thought it was about Beatles collectables, it seems to have turned into an 8 track convention.
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Post by ROCKY on Dec 2, 2016 0:41:42 GMT
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Post by dennis1960 on Dec 2, 2016 19:52:11 GMT
Dennis, by any chance did you used to work for RadioShack? You appear to remember a lot about the stuff they used to sell. There was a contraption they sold well into the '90s that looked like an 8-track cartridge on one end and had a cassette player on the other end. You shoved the first end into your 8-track player and could play a cassette through it. No, but I grew up about a mile from a Radio Shack and they did a great job of giving away annual catalogs to any warm body that passed through their front door. Back in the 70's (before we were assaulted with thousands of 'buy our product' ads every hour) just having something you could look at was a huge selling advantage. They were also very clever in presenting stereo systems (receiver/amp, record player, speakers) in a "good, better, best" format so you always knew what you could buy to upgrade your system. They were really the only place for a teenager without a car to buy stereo equipment and I spent far too many hours drooling over their catalogs while blasting The Beatles, Black Sabbath, and King Crimson through my Radio Shack stereo hoping not to blow out my "good" quality speakers
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